Results of a hotly contested Republican primary race in the Texas Panhandle and South Plains area are still raising eyebrows more than a week after Election Day.

For the 7th Court of Appeals Place 4 seat, election night returns showed Amarillo attorney Steven Denny ousting incumbent Larry Doss by just over 400 votes, with over 90,000 votes cast. The race was perhaps the most hotly contested but unknown race on the ballot in the Lubbock and Amarillo areas.

However, research from the 46-county contest showed that the race for the 7th Court of Appeals was left off of the ballot in two counties. 

Sample ballots on the elections website for Cochran County show the race and its uncontested counterpart race for chief justice are missing from the ballot.

The Texas Secretary of State election results website shows no results for the contests out of either Cochran or Collingsworth County, though results for other contests are shown.

According to the Secretary of State election results website, Denny leads Doss by 319 votes—46,002 to 45,683 votes.

In an interview, Denny said he understands there is still time for a challenge to be filed. However, he feels any remedy to issues with the election should have been exercised prior to Election Day.

“The county clerks put out the sample ballots for the purpose of inspection,” Denny said. “No voters or candidates contested those ballots. That’s your remedy.”

A request for comment to the phone number listed on Doss’ campaign sites went unreturned. At the time of publication, Doss has not publicly confirmed whether he intends to contest the results of the election.

The winner of the Republican primary will not face an opponent in November.

Thomas Warren

Thomas Warren, III is the editor-in-chief of the Amarillo Pioneer newspaper in Amarillo, Texas.

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